Paid in AUD for a product in Australia on a website - got charged fee !?!

[trippin_the_rift]

Dispute the transaction with your bank if the fee is included in the final price on your statement.

The price is not what you agreed on. This will send a fast message to merchants that they can't operate like cowboys.

PS: It's not a 'small number of customers affected' - it's every customer that uses a card not issued in the country they are processing transactions, which is likely 80%+ of transactions.

 

[oz_mark]

Dispute the transaction with your bank if the fee is included in the final price on your statement.

The price is not what you agreed on. This will send a fast message to merchants that they can't operate like cowboys.

PS: It's not a 'small number of customers affected' - it's every customer that uses a card not issued in the country they are processing transactions, which is likely 80%+ of transactions.

Surely the merchant will be able to show they only charged the agreed fee.

 

[smart1999]

This is ridiculous. I've also been charged the overseas fee for Sydney Aquarium (and for my Skype call credits by the way which are also charged in A$). Wouldn't this be a case for the ACCC as our banks should not be allowed to charge this overseas fees on transactions that clearly took place in AUstralia? I can't believe this hasn't been on A Current Affairs yet. It's full 3% profit for the banks on each of these transactions and I agree that you can't be expected as a consumer to read every T&C of every merchant you pay with your card in Australia to see whether they process your payment overseas. There must be better consumer protection.

 

[ftm]

My understanding is that it is all about the card issuer. Two different cards through the same merchant might have a fee on one and not the other.

China Southern is a good example. No fee on Amex Plat (issued by Amex) but a fee using ANZ issued Amex.

 

[here2go]

My understanding is that it is all about the card issuer. Two different cards through the same merchant might have a fee on one and not the other.

China Southern is a good example. No fee on Amex Plat (issued by Amex) but a fee using ANZ issued Amex.

It is not just the card issuer - but the card brand. Go Mastercard from GE has the 3% fee on Foreign Vendors, but everyone's FOREX free favourite - 28 Degrees, does not.

 

[smart1999]

Yeah but the question is regardless of what our lovely banks put in their T&C is it actually legal and protecting consumer rights? Seeing that it's not consistent even more tells me that it's about making a handsome extra profit on transactions that are clearly not easily identifiable as overseas transactions especially if you walk down to Darling Harour and buy a combo pass at Sydney Aquarium!

 

[dontwanttoregister]

My objection is the complete lack of transparency. There is no way for a consumer to know whether a merchant that charges in AUD, issues a receipt with an ABN and is located within Australia is processing the charge via on overseas based merchant facility. Add in the complexity that it is the card issuer (each of which determines its own fee policy), not the merchant that is charging the fee to obscure the issue even more.

This situation appears to be a rare anomaly, but that doesn't excuse it.

The customer cannot make an informed choice.

 

[brett-au]

My objection is the complete lack of transparency. There is no way for a consumer to know whether a merchant that charges in AUD, issues a receipt with an ABN and is located within Australia is processing the charge via on overseas based merchant facility. Add in the complexity that it is the card issuer (each of which determines its own fee policy), not the merchant that is charging the fee to obscure the issue even more.

This situation appears to be a rare anomaly, but that doesn't excuse it.

The customer cannot make an informed choice.

I switched to 28 degrees for subsequent purchases and completely forgot about this post.

But yes, just like the little pad lock that pops up on the screen it would be nice to have a few little check marks/crosses against
- processes your information using a third party
- stores your complete credit card details
- charges a fee for credit card usage

when you use a website. I always hate sites where the default is they will store your credit card details for future purchases.

But I'm getting off topic. Currency conversion can only apply when there is a currency conversion happening.

 

[here2go]

My objection is the complete lack of transparency. There is no way for a consumer to know whether a merchant that charges in AUD, issues a receipt with an ABN and is located within Australia is processing the charge via on overseas based merchant facility. Add in the complexity that it is the card issuer (each of which determines its own fee policy), not the merchant that is charging the fee to obscure the issue even more.

This situation appears to be a rare anomaly, but that doesn't excuse it.

The customer cannot make an informed choice.

RE: The said vendor on Darling Harbour. I have contacted the ACCC to ascertain whether a complaint should be lodged. I'm not wronged, but you may be, and from a domestic tourism perspective I am not impressed.

 

[ftm]

China Southern is a good example. No fee on Amex Plat (issued by Amex) but a fee using ANZ issued Amex.

Ironically, just got an update from CZ to say that no transactions of their will have a forex fee now. They must have changed where/how their banking is done in Aust.

 

[burmans]

Wouldn't this be a case for the ACCC as our banks should not be allowed to charge this overseas fees on transactions that clearly took place in AUstralia?

I think this is the crux of the question.

Yes again a question for lawyers, but there have definitely been cases overseas where the banks have been taken to task for the reasonableness of their fees and I certainly am of the understanding ACC and ASIC have started cracking down on this too locally with banks, i.e. fees charged must actually be reasonable and be for a service legitimately received. The intent (historically) of an international transaction fee was to cover the banks costs, historically it was quite time consuming, involved a number of parties each of whom had a fair bit of manual work to complete etc. So historically 3% could probably be pretty easily justified. Under an automated system for international transfer as we have now 3% already seems exorbitant in terms of actual costs (though the banks would argue they had an upfront infrastructure cost to set that system up).

However suggesting this was an "international" transaction when it was probably settled in AUD just because the customer is recorded somewhere in your system and being an "international" merchant would probably be a harder sell if ACCC/ASIC/APRA looked closely at it and frankly I think we should be "encouraging" them to do so.

 

[prozac]

Recently I paid MH in Kuala Lumpur for fees and taxes for an MH flight using Westpac Altitude Black Mastercard. Normally this card attracts a 3% Westpac fee (and 2% fee if using the Black Amex card) for a foreign transaction. The MH person offered to accept payment in AUD or MYR. When I asked what the AUD rate was and checked it against the forex rate it was a better rate than I would have been likey to receive from Westpac, so I chose to pay in AUD. I saved on the exchange rate and also I was not charged the 3% fee by Westpac. I know this is not the card originally discussed by thought someone might find it useful to know.

 

[DeKa]

Recently I paid MH in Kuala Lumpur for fees and taxes for an MH flight using Westpac Altitude Black Mastercard. Normally this card attracts a 3% Westpac fee (and 2% fee if using the Black Amex card) for a foreign transaction. The MH person offered to accept payment in AUD or MYR. When I asked what the AUD rate was and checked it against the forex rate it was a better rate than I would have been likey to receive from Westpac, so I chose to pay in AUD. I saved on the exchange rate and also I was not charged the 3% fee by Westpac. I know this is not the card originally discussed by thought someone might find it useful to know.

Thanks for the info. Do note that *some* banks charge an "overseas transaction fee" rather than a "foreign currency transaction fee" - HSBC and ANZ are the two I know of based on this discussion here: http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1857520
HSBC of course operate the popular WW EDR Mastercard.

 

[Pushka]

I just booked a one way Hong Kong to Adelaide with Qantas on the Qantas website and I have been charged an International bank fee.

 

[eastwest101]

I just booked a one way Hong Kong to Adelaide with Qantas on the Qantas website and I have been charged an International bank fee.

Qantas.com.hk website or qantas.com.au website? Which credit card?

 

[Pushka]

It was .com.au although the $ was HKD. The credit card was Woolworths EDR card. From memory the only warning was that I'd need to present it before checkin.

 

[prozac]

Thanks for the info. Do note that *some* banks charge an "overseas transaction fee" rather than a "foreign currency transaction fee" - HSBC and ANZ are the two I know of based on this discussion here: http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1857520
HSBC of course operate the popular WW EDR Mastercard.

It was not without drama though as I did have another issue with the crediting of points to my Altitude account as they deemed it to be a local transaction and despite 4 emails explaining the T&Cs to them they would only pay 1.25 points instead of 3 for an "overseas spend" transaction. In the end they point blank refused to accept my argument so I finally had to pull the "I want to speak to your supervisor" line. How can you argue with the T&Cs....they thought they could. Westpac complaints phoned me back and immediately accepted that it was an "overseas merchant" transaction and made in Australian or any currency as per T&Cs. Great service when you can reach someone who actually understands the rules.

Sorry for thread creep.

 

[Mal]

It was .com.au although the $ was HKD. The credit card was Woolworths EDR card. From memory the only warning was that I'd need to present it before checkin.

Probably should be a warning issued by Qantas ... But I wouldn't expect to not be charged a fee for such a transaction (barring use of 28degrees card or similar).

 

[here2go]

Probably should be a warning issued by Qantas ... But I wouldn't expect to not be charged a fee for such a transaction (barring use of 28degrees card or similar).

Bankwest Platinum is the only other comparable card.

 

[serfty]

Bankwest Platinum is the only other comparable card.

As in a CC, yes, but the Citibank Debit compares well with the 28°.